The Police Are Your Enemy

[Stego]

I didn't want to be the one to post it, but I've been waiting all day for the discussion to start.

What do we think about this shit, folks?

The 'suspect' had a misdemeanor amount of marijuana in the house. He was fined 300 dollars and set free.

ETA More info.

SWAT team breaks into home, fires seven rounds at family's pit bull and corgi (?!) as a seven-year-old looks on.

They found a "small amount" of marijuana, enough for a misdemeanor charge. The parents were then charged with child endangerment.

Seriously, fuck the police.

[Sis Who Swears]

Yikes... yeah I'm glad they said what they said in the title and gave a warning, no way in hell I'd click that link.

But it sounds totally fucked up.

[awesome possum]

Well, on the positive side, the guy should be able to afford much more than a misdemeanor amount of marijuana after he sues the shit out of the cops, city, county and state.

Was this raid aimed at this guy, or was it a case of mistaken house? Either way, it's beyond ridiculous and people should lose their jobs over this bullshit.

[Stego]

A 'source' told the police he was a big time drug dealer, apparently.

ETA: This happened in Redneck, USA. He won't be able to sue.

[strings]

This is just beyond fucked up. They fired a total of 7 rounds killing two dogs one of which was a corgi, the other was caged, in front of a child, for a pipe with some resin, a grinder and a small amount of marijuana....

[Eurytus]

Using incidents which still, statistically, are very rare to accuse the police as a body of being your enemy is about as sensible as attempting to paint any other demographic groups as single hive mind entities by focusing on isolated incidents.

If someone tried to use a number of violent crimes committed by African Americans to tar the entire demographic of being violent or the actions of Islamic terrorists to accuse all Muslims of being the enemy then they would be rightly condemned.

I'm not sure why its ok to do it with the Police.

[Ran]

Saw this, and shook my head in utter disgust. Utterly ridiculous behavior. I simply cannot comprehend why a SWAT team was necessary to execute this warrant.

That said, bad behavior from police is not, and need not be, the only behavior that they exhibit.

[Ixodes]

Why is everything a SWAT raid these days? FFS, why couldn't they arrest this guy in a sensible manner. They charged him for child endangerment while they kicked in the doors and started shooting in the house?

I see situations where you need SWAT teams (hostage, gunfights, etc) but they are horribly overused in the US.

[Stego]

That said, bad behavior from police is not, and need not be, the only behavior that they exhibit.

There is nothing that police do that is positive. Nothing.

[RaceBannon42]

There is nothing that police do that is positive. Nothing.

Dude,

That may be the stupidest thing I've ever heard you say. :P

[Balefont]

How abou this gem from the Providence PD?

Or these guys that have also caused this mess?

[Rockroi]

Using incidents which still, statistically, are very rare to accuse the police as a body of being your enemy is about as sensible as attempting to paint any other demographic groups as single hive mind entities by focusing on isolated incidents.

I think the link Stego provided gives good testimony as to why these are not exactly isolated incidents:

It's horrifying, but I'd urge you to watch it, and to send it to the drug warriors in your life. This is the blunt-end result of all the war imagery and militaristic rhetoric politicians have been spewing for the last 30 years—cops dressed like soldiers, barreling through the front door middle of the night, slaughtering the family pets, filling the house with bullets in the presence of children, then having the audacity to charge the parents with endangering their own kid. There are 100-150 of these raids every day in America, the vast, vast majority like this one, to serve a warrant for a consensual crime.

But they did prevent Jonathan Whitworth from smoking the pot they found in his possession. So I guess this mission was a success.

Basically, we give men enough guns, armor and fiery rhetoric to make them think that every house has a drug dealer in it, every night-stand a gun, and that every arrest is a chance to put their materials to good use in the "War" on drugs. Its not an isolated incident.

Also one last point: did anyone ask why the cops brought a camera man in? And why he was so fixated on the furniture?

That's because they KNOW people complain about the way cops invade people's homes and the camera is there to document that none of the property was destroyed in a search for drugs. They are just engaging in good, old fashioned Cover-Your-Ass behavior.

Except they shot two dogs, terrified a family, in the glorious act of protecting us all from a guy smoking weed.

[Eurytus]

I think the link Stego provided gives good testimony as to why these are not exactly isolated incidents:

Raids might not be an isolated incident, but the kind of thing shown in the video is. If it were not rare then it would not be newsworthy.

It amazes me how willing people are to accept people labelling the police as entirely bad though incidents which ARE rare. Even the 100-150 raids claimed is as nothing compaired to the body of legitimate work done by the police.

I refer again to my examples from earlier and give another. Israel has killed more than a small number of innocent Palestinians during their actions in Gaza or the West Bank. If someone used those to come here and state that "Jews were your enemy" they would be rightly ridiculed. As Mel Gibson was in fact.

Police are your enemy is a statement as nonsensical as Gibson's.

[Darzin]

There is nothing that police do that is positive. Nothing.

Oh I don't know, maybe enforcing the law and preventing anarchy might be seen as positive things by some fringe groups.

[GSP]

People can come forward with all the counterarguments they want. The police can suck my nuts. That was some full on facist bullshit.

"Police are your enemy is a statement as nonsensical as Gibson's"

Tell that to the family with the two dead dogs and traumatized child. I've never had a use for them and by virtue of our backward laws of possession me and my boys have to be extra careful everytime we see one. They're far and away the closest thing to an enemy in my life, which is strange, because I aint bothering anybody. I'll bet that guy with his pipe wasn't bothering anybody either.

I'm far more familiar with Canadian law, but wouldn't those shitheads have had to establish some form of grounds to get a warrant to do that? And by grounds, I mean more than some random person on the street claiming they are a big dealer?

[adamsputnik]

Oh I don't know, maybe enforcing the law and preventing anarchy might be seen as positive things by some fringe groups.

Surely you jest.

"Fuck the police" is catchy, at any rate. Even if it is nonsensical.

This situation is nevertheless horrible and a direct result of this farcical war on Drugs. I'm all for doing away with it.

[Eurytus]

"Police are your enemy is a statement as nonsensical as Gibson's"

Tell that to the family with the two dead dogs and traumatized child. I've never had a use for them and by virtue of our backward laws of possession me and my boys have to be extra careful everytime we see one. They're far and away the closest thing to an enemy in my life, which is strange, because I aint bothering anybody. I'll bet that guy with his pipe wasn't bothering anybody either.

And by your criteria someone who decided that all African Americans were violent criminals because a friend had been mugged by one could come back with "Tell that to my friend" when he had his bigoted viewpoint challenged.

Just as someone who had the phrase "All Jews are violent war criminals" refuted could say "tell that to the Palestinian's killed in the Gaza actions".

And exactly the same way in which someone who claims that all Muslims are terrorists could say "Hey, tell that to the people who died on 9-11"

Its a non-argument.

[The Stranger]

There is nothing that police do that is positive. Nothing.

Untrue! I was at a block party the other weekend where the police chose to make an example of somebody so they handcuffed the first black teenager they found and threw him in the back of a squad car before my lawyer girlfriend confronted them and observed that they weren't charging him with anything, weren't telling his friends where he was going, and hadn't read the kid his rights. It is purely incidental that these trained law enforcement officials then panicked, obviously mouthed to each other 'fuck, this cunt is a lawyer," then let the kid off with an MIP. these people protect the Youth, Stego!

[Shryke]

Why is everything a SWAT raid these days? FFS, why couldn't they arrest this guy in a sensible manner.

They apparently thought he was a major drug dealer or something. How ELSE would you raid a place you suspected to be the den of a major drug dealer?

I mean, the big issue here is their shitty information, with IS a problem.

There was a tail end of a This American Life a few weeks back that talked about this kind of thing. Many police department fund themselves on search-and-seizures like this one was supposed to be and will take any excuse to raid a house.

[Former Lord of Winterfell]

Saw this, and shook my head in utter disgust. Utterly ridiculous behavior. I simply cannot comprehend why a SWAT team was necessary to execute this warrant.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2010/feb/23/family-questions-swat-drug-search-that-led-to/

Reads to me like they (wrongly) believed that this guy had large amounts for distribution, not just a bit to smoke. And I suppose if they thought he was a significant dealer, a gunfight is a realistic possibility.

The standard for a warrant is "probable cause", which is something less than total certainty, so mistakes are going to happen. And I can see why they went in the way they did given what they believed to be inside. But once there, they should have seen it wasn't going to be a gun battle, and I can't see why they had to nail the dogs.